Vishnupur Festival (West Bengal)

Held
every year between 27 and 31 December near the Madanmohana Temple, Vishnupur (Bishnupur),
the Festival celebrates the rich heritage of this temple town famous for its beautiful terracota temples and elegant silk
sarees. Bishnupur, once the capital of the Malla Kings, is renowned for
its crafts and is located about 100 kilometres northwest of Kolkata, the
capital of West Bengal.

The festival is immensely popular, characterised by exhibition and sale of local handicrafts
and performance of the rich musical tradition that Vishnupur boasts of. Thousands
of people come to this fair to buy various objects of handicrafts and rural
artisanry from different parts of West Bengal.

There are various stalls of art works and trinkets
including sea-shell works, terracotta works and
cloths, sweets etc. The whole process of making silk is depicted including the mulberry in pots with the silkworms
eating away the leaves. A variety of cultural programmes are also held during
this period. Vishnupur is also famous for its own school or Gharana of
classical music (Vishnupur
gharana).

How to get there

Vishnupur
has a small
railway station and
there are
direct trains from Howrah to Vishnupur.
The trains from Howrah are,
Asansol Passenger, Gomoh Passenger, Howrah-Purulia Passenger,
Hatia-Kharagpur, Rupashi Bangla Express,
Purulia Express etc.

Cycle Rickshaws are popular means of local
transport. Cars and jeeps are also available on hire and can be arranged through the Tourist
Lodge (Phone : +91 3244- 252
013, +91 3244- 253 561 ) run by West Bengal tourism. Cars on hire from Kiron
Homoeo Hall, Matukgunge.